Uncover
by BrianO'Conner
Summary: Henrico Dominques is a car-racing enthusiast and a smuggler. An undercover investigation against him will put Brian in danger and his relationship with the team in jeopardy. Will Brian and Dom survive this threat? Or will it all be "Too Fast, Too Furious"
1. Chapter 1 Investigation REVISED

1

Title: Uncover

Author: Bikechica

Beta: Ravenswing14337

Summary: Henrico Dominques is not only a car-racing enthusiast but also a smuggler. An undercover investigation against him will put Brian O'Conner in great danger and his relationship with the team in jeopardy. Will Brian and Dom survive this threat? Or will it all be "_Too Fast, Too Furious"_?

Genre: Alternative Universe

Feedback: Please, Please, Please…Review, it's a writer's only yardstick for "how they're doing" with the story.

Disclaimer: I make no profit from my efforts and with the exception of my original characters and plotlines; the rest belongs to Universal Pictures and John Singleton. I don't make a dime from this story it's just for fun, so don't sue me because I don't have any, and you won't get any.

OC's: Henrico Dominques and his men.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to my guys at home for giving me the free time to write and to Raven for putting her time and efforts into this story.

Uncover

Chapter 1 - Investigation

Against the bright sunlight his silhouette looked like one of any regular guy watching the huge sailboats going in and out of the harbor. Tall palm trees lazily swung their magnificent fronds in the warm breeze. Passersby wouldn't have a clue of what that man was really doing holding up a pair of binoculars. In his surf shorts, wavy blond hair and flip-flops he looked like a regular beach guy marveling at the pricy sailing toys of other adult men**,** when in fact the young man was watching very carefully what was happening on one of the boats, which had landed in the harbor about half an hour ago.

Right now all that could be seen was a broad shouldered bald man with a goatee, whose shirt vaguely showed the outline of a gun. He was talking to somebody under deck.

The young police officer on the beach squinted his bright blue eyes as if he could see who was inside the boat this way.

Mr. Muscle walked inside and soon after reappeared carrying a big, and seemingly heavy, plastic container. He was followed by another man, tall, slicked**-**back blond hair, clean-shaven and definitely overdressed for the beach in his suit.

A small grin passed over the police officer**'**s face watching them from a distance. He felt his head flush when he guessed what was in the box. Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder and a soft kiss was placed on his cheek.

"Hey, there!"

The voice startled him and made him jump a little more than he wanted. He spun around and dropped the binoculars to look into the face of his gorgeous sun-tanned girlfriend**'**s face.

"Hey! Mia!"

She smiled asking, "What are you doing here?"

He returned her smile and whispered,"Investigating….but shhhh, don't tell anyone."

She put on a serious expression and nodded, "No Problem, boss!"

The young man was relieved that she "played along" and took her hand. "Let's walk a bit."

She nodded and let him pull her along. While they were strolling down the beach, he threw a quick glance back over his shoulder but to his disappointment the two men had disappeared. "So how was your day?"

She nodded, "All right I guess. I just finished work and later I might…"

He stopped, pulled her close to him and asked. "Come over to my place?"

"That's exactly what I was gonna say," she smirked.

"Perfect!" he grinned back before he placed a soft kiss upon her lips. 'That feels nice', he thought before kissing her more patiently not giving a damn about other people watching them. Her lips caressed his and for a moment the world around them seemed to disappear. To his regret she slowly let go. "Eight o' clock?"

"Nine!"

"Okay"

"I'll drop you off at home." With these words they walked away from the beach to where he had parked his Nissan Skyline underneath a big palm tree. Of course he couldn't resist making the wheels spin out in the sand that had been blown onto the street when he turned his car around and drove off towards the city.


	2. Chapter 2 A closer look REVISED

Chapter 2 – A Close Look

Chapter 2 – A Closer Look

6 pm: 24th Avenue

Slowly the day's heat had been blown away by a cooler evening breeze. Brian O'Conner sat in his Skyline waiting for a good moment. He'd been sitting like this for hours it seemed but so far no good opportunity had presented itself. "That's all part of the job**,**" he told himself while he drank some water from a small plastic bottle. His chewing gum had lost all taste ages ago so he spit it out the window.

At that very moment the opportunity presented itself. The huge steel gate of a highly secured property opened and Henrico Dominques' 911 Porsche left the mansion.

Brian contemplated for a second whether to sneak in or follow the car. As it passed his Nissan he caught a glimpse of Dominques behind the wheel dressed in golfing attire. Within a second the young officer had started his engine and followed the Porsche unnoticed. It didn't take long until it pulled into the parking lot of the St. James Golf Club.

Brian waited a few minutes, then parked his car not too far away. When he got out his heart started beating faster while he hid a long, flat piece of metal, which one would usually expect in the hands of a car thief, not of a police officer. Carefully he scanned the parking lot before walking to the Porsche and inserting the metal between the window and its rubber. While his fingers were feeling for the right position, his light blue eyes kept looking around for other people. He was lucky. Nobody came or noticed him. With a click the driver door was unlocked. Brian smirked. He was pretty good at this. Almost too good for a police officer. He quickly shoved the metal into his pants and covered it with his shirt on his back. Then he fumbled for the trunk release. Another click gave away that he'd been successful. He pushed the lock of the door down and closed it again. Another glance to ensure nobody had noticed him and he carefully opened the trunk. Unfortunately it was empty. Brian sighed. "Shit!" He lifted the cover for the spare tire and looked underneath but all he could find was, who would have guessed, a spare tire. At that moment he heard a voice in the distance. Brian quickly closed the trunk and threw himself onto the ground next to the car. Footsteps on the gravel came closer but stopped a few meters away. If, whoever it was came any closer, he would spot the young man in between the cars and would probably wonder what he was doing there.

Brian tried to squeeze as far under the car as his lean figure allowed**,** and held his breath when his gaze fell onto something underneath the car. A small black box was attached to its bottom. Brian tried to open it with his fingernails while listening for more steps. Then he heard somebody speak. For another moment he held his breath and yanked on the cover of the box but it wouldn't open. All he could manage was to squeeze his fingers into the gap between the cover and the box. He felt something small and cold on his fingertips and tried to hold onto it while pulling his fingers out. Brian had his suspicion what it could be. The tiny piece rolled out of his fingers. Then he heard the steps getting closer again. Within seconds he shoved his fingers back into the box, grabbed the thing, pulled his fingers out leaving some skin on the edge of metal, pushed himself through to the other side of the car, rolled out and wanted to walk away but unfortunately a tall, muscular Mexican with remarkably white teeth and blond hair, especially for a Mexican, shouted from the other side of the car.

"Hey, you! What are you doing with my car?"

Brain slid the shim into his pocket unnoticed, and replied,"Nothing, bro. I'm just checking it ou…"

He didn't get any further when another guy, whom he hadn't noticed before, grabbed him by the shirt.

"You're not a golfer!"

Brian looked at them for a second and then shrugged,"Yeah, I'm not a golfer. So?"

The Mexican had now walked over to Brian and looked him right in the eye saying,"So what do you want with my car?"

Brian said what came to his mind first;"I wanna have it."

The look on the other man's face showed surprise, "So you're gonna steal it?"

"No!" Brian held his gaze and smiled, "I'm gonna win it."

Now the Mexican tilted his head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, man!"

The older guy motioned for his friend to let go of Brian's shirt and remarked, "I don't race."

"The hell you do. I've seen you at Racewars."

The man's gaze fell upon Brian's car that was parked a good distance away. Then he smiled, "I think I've seen you, too."

The smile on the young officer's face disappeared, "So you know I'm serious."

A smirked crossed his opponent's face when he eyed the Skyline, he didn't reply though. Brian waited for him to say something but instead he just got into his car closely followed by his buddy.

"So?" Brian asked.

Before the golfer revved up his engine he whispered, "We'll see." With those words he slammed his door shut and drove off.

Brian watched him pull out of the parking lot before he dared to breathe normally again. His heart had been beating so loud he had been afraid everybody would hear it. With a deep breath he put his hand into his pocket and took a better look at the thing in his palm. It was metal, small, cold, and shiny. It was a strangely shaped gun shell and it reflected the evening sun like a sparkling diamond.


	3. Chapter 3 Warning REVISED

Later that day

Later that day

The warm water of the shower running down his body felt good. It made him relax while he recalled the events of that day.

On his way home Brian had stopped at the police station and dropped of the bullett for analysis, which he had found. His boss had told him that things looked really good and if Brian could come up with more evidence they would be able to nail the man, who they believed was trafficing highly dangerous and therefore illegal amunition and other "stuff" into California: "Keep up the good work, O'Connor." He had said with a friendly slap on the back. Then he had lowered his voice to a more serious tone and asked: "What about Toretto?" Brian had tensed up inwardly. He didn't want to think about the possibly illegal actions, which the man he now called a friend, might be involved in. So he simply said:"Nothing yet, I'm focusing on Dominques for now." His boss let the topic go.

A look on his watch told him that it was about time to get out of the shower. So he sighed, turned it off and fished for the towel on the hook nearby. Then he decided to focus on the here and now and rubbed himself dry, tied the towel around his waist and walked into the bedroom, where he slipped on a pair of baggy jeans, a navy T-shirt and flip flops. A gaze into the bathroom mirror told him he should brush his hair. It always became wild and curly when it got wet. So he slicked it back with a comb and some gel and was about to grab his razor to get rid of his 5 o'clock shadow when the door bell rang. He double checked his watch but it was a little early for Mia to arrive, so he looked out the window and spotted a familiar sight – Dom's race car.

"You're kidding, right?" Mia asked her brother.

"Stay here for a minute." He more or less ordered her, got out of the car and positioned his muscular body on the hood.

A minute later Brian stepped out of his front door and greeted him with a slightly confused look: "Sup, Bro?"

"Come here, B r o…." Dom kept a serious look on is face while he waited for Brian to come to him instead of himself climbing the three steps up to the porch.

"Here we go…" Letty gave Mia a knowing smile who just rolled her eyes and was about to get out of the car but Letty held her back:"C'mon, girl. Let's watch this.This could be good."

Brian stood in front of the slightly older man and nodded:"So you gave Mia a ride?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Listen, man." He stood up and now stood just as tall as the younger man.

Brian watched him closely wondering what was going on. Had Toretto noticed anything or did he have suspicions that Brian was a cop?

"Mia likes you. A little more than I think she should but it's not my decision."

Brian wanted to interrupt him:"Relax…" when Dom took a step forward, moved his chin up and said in a dangerous tone:" Let me finish!"

He gave him a stare and Brian held his gaze.

"She's my sister and I love her more than anything. Nobody is good enough for her. You better treat her right, Brian. If you do anything to hurt her, I'll brake your fucking legs. You got me, bro?"

Brian was slightly amused by Doms speech but because he considered him a friend and realized that he would give this speech to anybody wanting to date his sister, he bit his tongue and nodded seriously:"No worries, man. I really like Mia. I won't hurt her."

The expression in his eyes told Dom that he was serious about what he had said.

Mia's brother stared at him for another 10 seconds and then nodded and slapped him on the shoulder:"All right, man. Have fun, you two!"

Letty and Mia smiled at the scene. Then Mia got out of the car. She walked past her older brother and shook her head at him with a smile.

Dom got back into the drivers seat:" And don't you dare do what we're about to do!" He gave Letty a passionate kiss who waved goodbye with one of her cocky half smiles before the tires left marks on the tarmack.

Mia walked up to Brian. He now noticed the beautiful, no-frills, summer dress she was wearing, which went really well with her dark teint.

"Do you even want me to come in now?" Mia asked with a smile.

Brian took her hand:" Are you kidding? More than ever. I love danger!"

"Do you?" she smiled while they walked into the house.


	4. Chapter 4 Uncover REVISED

Chapter 4 - Uncover

Chapter 4 – Uncover

Mia followed Brian into the kitchen, where he opened the fridge, "Would you like a beer or maybe some wine? "

"Beer, please."

He reached into the fridge, grabbed a Corona, and handed it to her without a glass because he knew that's how she liked it. Mia found herself a nice spot in an old chair with a soft cushion on the back porch.

Brian sat down on the step close by and went for his cool brew while he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"That's a beautiful spot here." she remarked as she took in the scenery.

The yard backed onto an apple orchard and some fields, which were slowly swaying in the warm evening breeze.

The man beside her was much more taken by her looks than by the scenery. The wind softly touched her long dark hair, when her eyes met his. Of course she noticed his look,"What?"

"You're gorgeous**,**" he admitted.

Her cheeks turned pink and she smiled "Thanks. You're not bad yourself."

Grinning he replied,"I was hoping you'd think so." Another sip.

Mia let her gaze wander once more. Then she stood up just to sit down next to him a moment later.

Brian watched her happily and put his arm around her shoulder. Her skin felt soft and warm under his fingertips, as did the kiss that she placed on his lips. He couldn't help but smile when he kissed her back, slowly at first but growing more passionate and wild as they went. His hand slid from her shoulder across her back to her hip where he let it rest for a moment.

Their lips slowly parted as they looked into each other**'**s eyes both impressed by their depth.

Brian smiled again and she returned it. It was one of the things she liked most about him and right now she was about to fall in love with that smile …or him…she hadn't decided yet. The young man had decided a while ago that he was crazy for Mia and that she was the best thing that had happened to him for a while. He was happy that she seemed to feel the same way.

Mia ran her fingers along the side of his head through his wavy, blond hair but didn't say a word. He watched her carefully trying not to miss a second of this wonderful moment.

Another kiss followed before Mia let her hand wander south, which took Brian a little by surprise - a pleasant surprise. Now he couldn't hold himself back any longer.

It didn't take long until Mia lay next to him on the wooden boards of the back porch with her hand down his pants. Brian had no complaints about that.

With the sun slowly setting behind the apple trees they took their clothes off and grabbed the cushions from the chair. Then they pressed their naked bodies against each other. His body, lean and muscular, hers, slim but yet with nice female curves. Both felt completely uninhibited and didn't care if anybody could be watching which was very unlikely anyway.

Brian ran his fingers down her back and felt her soft skin against his, placing kisses on her cheek and nose..

A small moan escaped her lips. She was happy.

That night on the back porch they made love like they hadn't so far.

It was already dark, but that didn't concern them. The world around them seemed to disappear, at least for now. Sweaty, but content, Brian and Mia lay next to each other, arms and bodies entwined, covered only by a blanket from the living room. There was no need for talk; words could never fully express how they felt. Lying there, gazing at the star-strewn night sky, they were united, closer than ever before.

That's how they fell asleep.

Later in the night the two shifted uncomfortable on the hard boards. Brian got up. He sat down on the couch inside. The young woman followed him wrapped in the blanket. "What time is it?"

"11:30 p.m." Brian mumbled.

She let herself fall onto the couch next to him.

Brian crawled under her blanket and spooned her. For a while they simply lay there.

Brian had something on his mind, however, now was not the best time to spill the beans. But then, the more he thought about it, the more he realized, there was never going to be a good time to say what he had to say. He had the urge to do it now, rather than later, so he gathered as much courage as he could and said…Mia?

"Hm?"

"There's something I have to tell you."

The sound of that almost made her jump. What was going on? What did he want to tell her in the middle of the night. It had to be important and, by the sound of his voice, unpleasant.

"What do you want to tell me?"

Brian got up and found his shorts on the porch.

Mia sat up and watched him open a drawer with a mixture of worry and curiosity. His hand reached for a small black wallet-like thing, which he then showed to her. He flipped it open and put it in her hand.

It was his badge.

"I'm a police officer, Mia."

Her eyes scanned the badge and then met his. She had a hard time wrapping her mind around what he had just said. "That's yours?"

"Yes." Brian sighed. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Why didn't you? I thought you were a mechanic?" she said her anger threatening to boil over beneath her calm exterior.

"That's my cover. I'm an undercover agent."

She felt anger rise inside of her but tried stay as calm as she could. "Investigating what?" .

Brian swallowed. He was visibly uncomfortable. "Originally Iwas supposed to investigate against Dom …."

Just what she thought. Something inside Mia tensed up and she angrily jumped up**,** but Brian grabbed her hand. "Hang on."

For some reason she let him hold her back.

"In the meantime I have been assigned to investigate somebody else, who happens to race as well, and keep an eye on your brother and his crew."

"So you're keeping a pretty close eye on us, huh?" she spat.

"No, Mia. That's not how it is. I haven't given my boss any information about Dom or Letty or Vince or…anyone, and I won't. I told him I'm focusing on the other guy."

Her expression clearly showed her doubts.

"Mia, I just had to tell you who I am. I couldn't keep this from you because I have serious feelings for you. I wanted you to know." He gave her a look as if to say 'I'm really sorry, it's up to you now.'

Mia's expression softened a little but she didn't smile or nod or anything. She just stared at him searching his eyes.

After a moment she nodded briefly. "I have to think about this, Brian."

She went out to the porch, and got dressed leaving Brian standing where he was.

Quickly he followed her to the door and said, "I'll give you a ride home."

"Don't worry. I'll take a cab." She already had the phone in her hand.

"C'mon, Mia."

"No." She turned to face him and took his hand,"I want to think about this and be alone right now, ok?"

He nodded because he knew he had to give her time to digest what he had told her.

A few minutes later he watched her ride away in a yellow cab thinking that he had a hand for awful timing.

For a brief moment he thought about Dom and how the news would go down with him.

"_If you do anything to hurt her, I'll break your fucking legs."_ Brian remembered his words with a worried look at his feet.

.


	5. Chapter 5 Rage REVISED

Chapter 5 - Rage

Chapter 5 – Rage

After a night of little sleep Brian got up quite early. All he could think of that night was Mia, and how the news might affect her feelings for him. Of course, Dom and his crew had been on his mind as well. He expected Mia to tell her brother that he was a cop**,** and could imagine that he wouldn't be too happy about this development as he had done time in Lompoc before. Then again**,** Brian was aware that this was the way it had to be. He was an undercover agent and couldn't go around telling people who he really was, not even his new friends. Informing Mia now was against the rules and he could get into deep shit for it.

Without breakfast**,** Brian left the house in running shoes, the earphones of his MP3 player in his ears and a hat on backwards to keep them in place. For about 45 minutes he took a pretty fast**-**paced run down to the beach and along it not paying much attention to other early guests**,** or the waves breaking against the jetty.

After sprinting and getting some more pent up energy out**,** he walked to the bus stop, got on the bus and sat down all the way in the back. It took him to a 'dental clinic', which the LAPD used as a ruse for undercover meetings. His boss was already waiting with some news. "Morning, O'Connor. Take a seat."

Brian grabbed a bottle of water and slumped down in a plastic chair. Sergeant Bilkins showed him the bullet he'd found. It was now in a sealed and labeled plastic bag. "Bingo."

The young officer took the bag in his hand and looked at it as if he was seeing it for the first time, while Bilkins continued. "This little sucker will not only rip one big hole into you but also go through any standard issue vest. No cop or military member will be safe while these are being distributed to gang members and other criminals. Wherever you found this there must be more. Enough to nail this guy not only for the possession of this ammunition but for illegal import and sales."

Brian nodded absentmindedly.

"Where did you find this?" his boss inquired.

"It was attached to the bottom of his car. I guess he didn't want to drive it around in his trunk in case he got pulled over. He's a street racer, too. But you know that." Brian explained. "There were about 20 more there. Probably as samples for prospective customers."

"Don't let this guy get away**,**" Bilkins commanded with a stern expression on his round face.

"I won't!" Brian raised his eyes to look into Bilkins eager eyes.

"What's the matter, O'Connor?" his superior asked.

The officer shook his head and gave a weak smile**. **"Nothing, man. Everything's all right I gotta go. The shop's opening."

He got up and dropped the bag with the bullet on the table**. **"Catch you later."

Bilkins watched him walk out of the office with a mixture of worry and irritation.

Two leather boots with an angry man inside stepped onto the sidewalk in front of Harry's garage.

Dark eyes behind Ray Bans scanned the garage and found what they were looking for inside an old Chevy.

Brian sat in the passenger seat fiddling around with the radio in the car. When he turned it off, he could hear the heavy steps coming closer and looked up.

There he stood** -** Dom. Arms folded across his chest. Brian didn't have to wonder long whether Mia had told him. The expression on the big guy**'**s face clearly said so.

Brian dropped the radio wires and got out. Dom stared at him from a short distance away, and then mumbled through gritted teeth**.** "Brian."

O'Conner lifted his head and nodded to him. "She told you!" He braced himself for what was inevitable. His body tensed up when Dom came towards him.

"Yes she did!" he said in a low rumble while he punched Brian hard in the face, splitting his bottom lip and sending him on the floor into a pile of tools, which gave a loud clang.

Before Brian could get back up, Dom grabbed his shirt with both hands, pulled him to his feet and delivered another severe blow to Brian's ribs, which made him gasp for air and double over.

"Fucking asshole" he yelled but left the younger man enough time catch his breath.

In the meantime Harry heard the rumble and came walking in, a metal bar in his hands, "Brian, what's going on?"

Brian shouted " Let it go, Harry" and at the same moment grabbed Dom's feet, pulled hard and sent him to the floor. His fist connected with Dom's eye and knocked his head backwards onto the floor.

"I'm sorry!" Brian huffed. "I couldn't tell you. It's my job."

"Job, my ass!"

Dom grabbed him and swung his body around so he came to sit on top of Brian while Harry watched from a distance, the bar still in his hands. Should he intervene? The man in his late fourties decided that it was to his own good not to get caught in the middle of a fistfight and turned around and left.

"Your fucking job sent me to prison and cost me 2 years of my life."

Brian tried to get on top again but Doms muscular forearm pinned Brians chest to the floor and prevented him from getting a punch in. In between blows to his face Brian tried to get a few words in. "No, man. That's your own damn fault. There are laws and if you break them you get punished for it. Take responsibility for your own damn actions!" At least it made Dom slow down.

Because he couldn't get his hands free, he put Dom in a headlock with his legs. Dom struggled to breathe while his head was turning more red by the second. Just before he started seeing stars, Brian let go. The men sat on the floor breathing hard, emotions running wild. Dom rubbed his neck. The two men glared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Brian broke the silence "I couldn't help it, Bro. I couldn't tell you. But I know how you make your money, how you hijack those trucks, and I never told anybody and I won't." Dom frowned.

"I didn't have to tell Mia now but I felt I wanted her to know who I am because I have strong feelings for her….and I also wanted you to know who I am. I consider you a good friend."

Dom smiled a fake smile, "Friend, huh?"

"Yeah, friend**!**" Brian replied still angry.

The big guys shaved head was still red with rage that he could barely contain. "My f..ing friends don't go around and lie to me. My friends are loyal, they've got my back. They would die for me! Would you do that, Brian?" he spat.

Bright blue eyes stared back at Dom. The cop didn't flinch or move. He thought about the question though, didn't answer however.

Dom squinted his dark eyes and searched the other mans face his fist still clenched and his muscle-bound arms tight. Why had Brian really told Mia? He must have known she would pass that bit of information on to her brother. How could he be a cop and not sell him and the crew out? Mia!

Dom thought about what he had heard for a moment. "Never told anyone?"

"Nobody."

Suddenly the big guy reached out his hand.

Without hesitation Brian grabbed it.

"You know what saved your ass, Brian? …You told Mia…she didn't find out through some stupid incident."

Brian nodded.

Then Dom got up and pulled Brian up with him, "Put some ice on that lip, pretty boy," he smirked, "there's a race on tonight."

Brian smiled and wiped the blood off his lip, "I'll be there."


	6. Chapter 6 To forgive or not to forgive

Chapter 6 - To forgive or not to forgive

Chapter 6 - To forgive or not to forgive

Since everybody had gone out the house had been very quiet the whole day. Unusually quiet. Mia and Dom rented the house a couple of streets down from Abalone Cove County Beach in LA but Letty practically lived there and the rest of the crew walked in and out as they pleased. Mia and Dom didn't mind. The house was big enough and they liked their friends around. Right now they were all out and about. Everyone except for Mia and the stray cat who one day had decided to stay. Nobody had had the heart to kick her out and so she found herself a new home. Mia left work early and now sat in a chair in the garden. From a distance it looked like she was relaxing with the purring cat gouing around her ankles but when you saw her face you could tell that she was far from it. Her even features wore a frown. She was angry at Brian because it had taken him so long to fill her in**,** but at the same time she was thankful that he had done it.

A lot of question**s** whirled around in her head. 'Did this make him a good or bad person? Could she date a cop? Did this change her feelings for him? Had anything changed at all?' she wondered.

The young woman thought out leaving Brian. Why didn't he tell her right away who he was? Right now she didn't wanna see him, hear him or be anywhere near him. He had hurt her. Men, always the same, they hurt her whether it was on purpose or not. Why would she even want to be with a man? Maybe she should try a girl for a change. At least girls had feelings!

Then again he had told her about who he really was even though he wasn't allowed to. That spoke for him. He was actually honest. But what good was a cop around her family. That could only mean trouble. Even though she had never approved of Dom's line of work or Letty's, Leon's and Vince's for that matter they were still her family and she was loyal to all of them.

Anger and hurt were written across her face, and the questions made her head spin. Frustrated, she jumped up and hurried into the house, bumping into Letty on the way. Letty tossed her keys on the kitchen counter, pulled up her baggy army style pants and sat on the counter, her big black boots leaving scuff marks on the top.

"What's up, Mia?"

When she took a closer look, she raised her eyebrows. "Girl, what's wrong?"

"Brian's a cop," the younger woman just cried out and wanted to hurry upstairs.

Letty took a step towards her and held her hand. "I know. Asshole! So forget him and move on!" was her phony piece of advice.

Mia didn't want to reply to this stupid remark. As if she could move on just like that. She rolled her eyes and glared angrily.

Her friend motioned towards the couch and more or less ordered Mia to sit. "Let's talk." She was f…ing angry at Brian**, **had never really liked him in the first place.

Mia hestitated. She didn't really want to talk or hear another piece of smart-mouthed advice. She was also quite sure that Dom was probably already on his way to rearrange Brian's face after she had told him the news. Her brother had just stood there quitely trying not to let his rage show. But Mia could read him like a book. Mia didn't make any efforts to ask where he was going when he simply left. She knew.

"It's okay. I…" she started but was interrupted by an energetic "Sit down!" Mia had no energy left to argue with her and gave in to her friend**'**s order. She slumped down on the couch.

Letty spoke matter-of-factly, and looked her straight in the eye. "I couldn't stand that pretty boy from the start, you know."

Mia frowned.

"But… I guess- he made you more relaxed and happy," she paused.

Mia thought about that for a second. That was an unexpected comment from the kick-ass bitch, she shared a house with.

Letty brushed a strand of her black hair back and put her feet on the table. "He chose one hell of a damn profession but you gotta do what makes you happy, you know!" She raised an eyebrow as if to say 'That's it-my speech is done'.

"I agree with everything she just said," a low rumble added from behind the girls.

They turned around to see Dom standing in the doorway sporting a dark red soon to be black eye.

Letty smirked. "I see you two had a _talk_."

Dom nodded and sat down next to her, reaching his arm around her waist. He looked at Mia, who held his gaze with a look that almost looked like she was pouting.

But instead of waiting for his piece of advice she suddenly got up and remarked. "I see how you men discuss and handle your issues but I don't work that way. I have to figure this out my way and I haven't found that yet." She grabbed her car keys from the board and threw the door close behind herself as she left.

She had to get away from everybody. Maybe going for a drive could clear her thoughts and ease her mind. She turned on the radio of her turquois Honda Integra GS-R and searched for some mellow tune.

Dom raised his eyebrows and ran his hand over his shaved head. Dark eyes watching his sister storm out the door. It hurt him a little inside to see her all shaken up over a guy. Dom hadn't quite decided yet what to think of Brian. He hated his guts for lying to the crew and using their friendship. A thing that wasn't offered to just anybody. On the other hand**,** Brian had earned his respect by not ratting them out even though it would have been his responsibility as cop. The guy had actually shown some loyalty to the crew if what he said was true. He had also earned Dom's respect for telling them who he really was and risking his relationship with Mia and the rest of them. That took some courage. Dom decided that he did have some respect for Brian.

Letty smiled and kissed him. "Forget about it, we're good, let's make out." The beautiful olive skinned woman didn't have to ask twice. Her bulky boyfriend went right for it, sliding his tounge into her mouth and his hand down her baggy pants. Letty let herself fall back onto the couch and kicked her boots off. "That's right, baby!"


	7. Chapter 7 The race

The crowd, which had gathered in one of LAs many streets late at night was a colorful as the cars they were showing off

Chapter 7 - Race night

The crowd, which had gathered in one of L**.**A**.'**s many, "not so busy" streets in the suburbs late at night, was as colorful as the cars they were showing off. It didn't matter where they came from or what their job was. Whoever owned a tuned up car and was into street racing had gathered. And they all had two things in common; each of them had an attitude of some kind and each of them loved racing.

Sassy women in very little clothing gathered round men leaning against their rides, into which they invested all their spare time and money. They loved the attention they were getting. Of course, some women raced as well, as ego, vanity, an attention getting antics, in this male dominated arena, was not exclusive to the men.

In the middle of all this commotion Brian parked his neon green Mitsubishi Eclipse and now waited for the right kind of opponent to race. He was dressed in faded jeans and a white T-shirt, his curly hair slicked back neatly. His tall body casually leaned against the door of his car.

The first contestants were already at the start line, revving up their engines. Three cars, one goal. Winning. The flag was waved and off they sped.

A familiar car showed up on the scene, and the crowd parted like the wake of speed boat. The red Mazda RX-7. Dom. Hands were clapped and people whistled, welcoming the local matador.

The man got out of his car and raised his hands to the crowd a slight smile playing upon his lips. He wore a black muscle shirt and black jeans and looked pretty impressive.

Brian watched him from a distance wondering how he felt about him now. When Dom spotted him, he called out. "Yo, Brian. C'mon over."

The cop smiled slightly and walked over to the older man. "What's up, man?"

"A race." Dom smiled. "You racing?"

Brian nodded. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for somebody worthy." He smirked.

Dom looked at him. Both of them had signs of their fight on their faces. Dom's eye showed shades of red and green while Brian sported a fat lip. Suddenly they both grinned at each other.

"Somebody worthy, huh?" Dom enquired. He looked around for show and then added. "Like me maybe?"

"That's almost too worthy." Brian commented.

A serious look appeared on Toretto**'**s face. "Are you in?"

Brian hestitated for a moment and then reached out his hand. "I'm in."

A second later Dom gave him five and walked towards Tej, who was collecting the bets.

"Is Mia gonna be here?" the young man asked.

Dom turned around a frown on his face. "No, she drove off. She said she needs to clear her mind." Inwardly Dom tensed up because it was Brian**'**s fault that Mia was upset**,** but he wanted to focus on the race and put Brian in his place that way. Just a little pay back.

Brian could tell that he was frustrated and dropped the subject. The whole day he had been thinking and worrying about Mia**,** and the race was there to take his mind off her. So he nodded and walked over to Tej as well.

Tej just started announcing the next race, which would probably be the most interesting one of the night since both Dom and Brian were known to be almost unbeatable, when suddenly a car pulled up next to them. Brian immediately recogized the German import. A red Porsche 911 GT3 with a powerful water cooled engine of 295 kW. He swallowed hard and blinked at the owner, Henrico Dominques. There he was, his target. Brian could feel a flash of adrenalin rushing through his body.

The man got out and addressed Dom. Toretto looked over at the newcomer and tried to size him up quickly. He had seen him before somewhere.

"Your friend challenged me to a race yesterday. Mind if I join this one?"

For a moment Dom contemplated whether he wanted to race this stranger. Then his ego got the better of him, thinking that he could beat anybody. So he asked in a low calm voice. "What's your buy-in?"

The man pulled his pink slip from his pocket. "That's what your buddy asked for." His cold eyes pierced through Dom.

"Is that right?" Dom asked through gritted teeth.

Dom turned to face his friend and asked him right out. "You wanna race this man for your pink slip?"

Brian stood there dumbstruck looking from one to the other. He hadn't expected that Dominques would go for it. But this was his chance to get his hands on Dominques car and the box of bullets on the bottom. Proof enough for a crackdown and maybe an arrest warrant especially if forensics could find any trace of blood in the man**'**s vehicle.

Quickly he nodded. "I do."

Dom grabbed Brian by his arm and said to Dominques. "Excuse us for a second." Then he pulled Brian aside while Tej talked to the Mexican.

Dom rolled his eyes. "Did you see the car he's driving?"

Dominques wasn't a patient man. He handed Tej his slip, turned around and shouted towards them while he was walking back to his car. "I'll get the engine warmed up in case any of you boys want to race me."

Brian got closer to Domand whispered. "Race him. Please, Dom. I need that guy**'**s car. If anybody can beat him, it's you." His eyes pleaded with Dom to help him. "He's the one I'm after and in a box on the bottom of his Porsche is the evidence I need."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Dom growled back. "You want me to help you with your fucking job? Give me a break."

"This guy is a killer. He's not like you or me. He's selling illegal ammunition to anybody who wants it all over L.A. You or anybody you care about could be the next person who gets hit by one of his bullets. C'mon." Dom stared ahead. He just couldn't believe Brian.

The Porsche**'**s engine howled loud and clear pushing them to get moving.

Somewhere in the crowd Letty and Mia arrived at the race location and saw the three cars from a distance. Mia wore a frown. She didn't actually feel like coming tonight but Letty had talked her into it 'just to watch her brother'.

The sound of the powerful engine gave Dom goose bumps. He really wondered whether he could beat the Porsche. If its driver was bad enough maybe. He had to find out. "Get in your car, O'Conner." He commanded.

Brian smiled "Thanks, bro" and jumped away to his car.

Seconds later the crowd became unusually quiet and turned their full attention towards what promised to be a very exciting race.

Seatbelt buckles clicked, engines howled, clutches were pressed. There was the flag. The only thing left was the rubber on the tarmack when all three men hit the gas pedals and jammed in gear after gear. In split seconds their cars were racing at top speed with Dom taking the lead.

Adrenalin rushed through Brian's body making his hands tingle. He gripped the wheel a little tighter.

In his rear view mirror Dom could see Brian and Dominques fighting for second place. Neither one of them was about to give in as they stared at the road ahead**,** highly focused.

Dom smoothly took the first turn, when Dominques unexpectedly sped by him on the outside. The guy wasn't as bad of a driver as he thought.

Brian bit his lip and geared down making his engine howl but speed up more. At the next turn he squeezed by Dom**'**s Mazda on the inside of the curve just barely missing a parked car.

Dom frowned now in third place.

Dominques was just a few meters ahead of the cop and only one more left turn lay ahead of them before a long straight stretch to the finish line. If he used his NOS right after the turn, he could beat the guy and go home with his keys. But he had to get closer or even.

Dom watched Brian manouver closer to the Porsche and pull up right next to him in the curve. Dom's eyes widened slightly as he watched him and he geared down to take the corner.

Suddenly Dominques swerved just enough to hit the Mitsubishi's fender. A slight smile crossed the man**'**s face.

The Eclipse immediately rolled with two tires on the sidewalk and then the lawn next to it making it really hard to control for Brian. He cursed and tried to get back onto the road when his tires abruptly lost road grip. At 90 mph he was fully aware that he wouldn't get it back under control. He could feel his heart pounding in his neck and the adrenalin in his body made his reactions faster. Yet all steering was useless just as much as slamming on the brakes. Shock and fear all present he did it anyway and slowed down before his car slammed into a truck that had been parked on the side of the road with an earsplitting bang. The force of the impact compressed the hood and fender of the Eclipse like cardboard.

The crowd watched the accident from a distance suddenly unusually quiet. In between all these people Mia's heart almost stopped beating, her eyes widened and her face went pale as she watched horrified.


	8. Chapter 8 The accident

Earlier on the day of the race:

Chapter 8 – The accident

_Earlier on the day of the race:_

_Henrico Dominques wasn't pleased. A frown had spread upon his well tanned face when one of his goons came back with no other information on Brian than... "Nothing. He's not a cop. Got a couple of speeding tickets, done time in Juvy- that's it. He's clean."_

_The Mexican shook his head. This didn't seem right to him. "Why is he sniffing around my car?" He stepped forward towards the much taller man. "Why? Tell me!"_

"_I don't know, boss. Maybe he's really just interested in your car." The simple minded guy guessed. "It's a nice, expensive car." The muscle man stepped back._

"_I can't believe he's not a cop." Dominques hissed._

"_He's with __Toretto's crew. You know how they make their money. I don't think that a cop could be part of that."_

"_I know, but…no. Argh, I'll take care of it." He angrily muttered._

At the race.

When his car flew off the road Brian was well aware what was happening. An accident was always a possibility but you just didn't think about it. You wouldn't focus on the race if you did.

But right now, it was happening. He lost control and there was no gaining it again. High on adrenalin**,** time seemed to go by slower. Brian O'Conner saw every tiny little bit that was happening and his eyes fell upon the huge semi truck he was heading towards. Even though he slammed on the brakes and the ABS got some grip he was still too fast. The Nissan would hit the truck. No question. A second later the impact threw Brian forward and he threw his arms in front of his head hoping the car would stop before his face got smashed by the steel sides of the large vehicle. Glass slivered all around him and the Nissan**'**s front and fender crushed as if they were made of tin foil.

Yanking his steering wheel around and pulling the e-brake, Dom did a 180 on the spot. His tires smoked as he hit the gas pedal to go back to the turn, where Brian's car hit the truck. His blood ran cold in his veins because he knew the Porsche had pushed Brian off the road and was now speeding towards the finish line. A moment later he pulled up next to the wreck and jumped out as fast as he could. A few fast steps took him to the driver side of the smashed vehicle. The car was making a hissing sound probably coming from a ripped radiator. For a very brief moment Dom feared what he would see. Then he noticed Brian was moving despite the fact that the Mitsubishi had been shortened by one third of its size.

Eagerly he tried to rip the door open but it was too bent.

Brian looked at Dom pain written plainly across his face. "Help me, Dom!" he pleaded while he was pressing his hands against the dashboard which had been pushed towards him.

Immediately Dom saw that Brian**'**s legs were wedged in between the dashboard and the deformed door.

"I can't get my legs out." The cop groaned. Pain and fear caused his blue eyes to fill with tears.

Dom tried to get a handle on the situation but felt completely helpless at that moment. He wouldn't be Dominic Toretto if he'd freak out because of an accident. So he leaned into the car and reached underneath Brian's arms. "I'll try to pull you out. Push when I say now." After he locked his hands around Brian**'**s chest, he said. "Now." With strong arms he tried to pull Brian backwards but as soon as they moved an inch, the man yelled out in pain and Dom noticed that a red stain was spreading on his right leg from underneath the dashboard.

"Fuck!" Brian cried out and smacked his fist on the plastic. The pain in his leg shot all through his body and made him feel like throwing up.

From the front of the car steam was spreading with an annoying fizzling.

Brian grabbed Dom**'**s arm and muttered. "You gotta get me out, bro. I'm sitting on the NOS, I didn't use it yet. Get me out!"

Dom**'**s eyes widened as he frantically looked around for help.

In the distance he could see the crowd coming towards them. They would take too long.

Suddenly out of nowhere Leon showed up behind him handing him a crow bar.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Leon pushed Dom aside and said to Brian in a calm voice. "Hang in there, pretty boy. I'll get you out." Then he put the crow bar in through the open window and used it as leverage to bend the door back out. He pulled as hard as he could; flexing his muscles and Dom grabbed a hold of the doorframe with bare hands. With united power they managed to bend it back just enough so the door opened again.

The radiator kept hissing but the sound was now a little faster than before.

Then Dom motioned for the dashboard. "His legs are caught in there."

"Hurry up!" Brian moaned through clenched teeth his face turning white.

Mr. Dominques celebrated his win at the finish line, where he was greeted by a lovely bleached blond bunny and his favourite goon applauding him. He was loving it even though he knew both of them only did it for his money not because of respect. Respect wasn't something he was overly keen on. Money was. Too bad he couldn't claim Brian's pink slip, the car was a mess. The man also got some applause from the crowd until people noticed that one car had gotten off the road and the other one turned around. Angrily he glared at the crowd, who proceeded to ignore him and then partly hurried away towards the scene of the accident.

Mia and Letty were trying to push their way to the tip of the crowd. Mia kept calling Brian**'**s name but nobody could hear her with all the noise going on. She couldn't believe what she just witnessed. It was a scene that she never wanted to see - a person she cared about losing control in a race. Finally she pushed her way through and stumbled forward to get to Dom and Brian. As fast as her feet could take her she ran the distance to the car. Boyfriend or not, she loved Brian and was scared shitless for him right now. Suddenly frozen she stood behind Dom and Leon and stared at Brian's agonized features in the wreck.

Leon and Dom decided to push the car back in order to be able to push the door and hood out slightly. They burned their hands on the hot metal but didn't care. The hissing sound from underneath the hood made them very nervous. It didn't mean anything good. They had to get their friend out of the car before it blew up in their faces. Leaving him in there and getting out of the danger zone wasn't an option. No thought was wasted on that. Frantically both men tried to bend the fender and dashboard far enough for Brian to get his legs free. Over and over they pushed and pulled as hard as they could, their faces red and hands cut, when suddenly the plastic gave way just enough for Brian to slide off the seat. While Dom held onto the dashboard, Leon pulled Brian back and fell backwards out of the car with him.

"Get away from the car!" Dom yelled out to everybody.

As fast as possible they dragged Brian back towards the street and slumped down trying to catch their breath. Mia followed them closely staring at the men. Brian lifted his head and saw that his jeans were covered in blood on his right leg. He held his breath and sat up to get a better look. The pants were ripped but he couldn't see much as his vision went blurry for a second, so he let his head fall back. Dom could see enough though and he didn't like what he saw. He ordered Letty**,** who was standing next to Mia with a concerned look on her face**,** to get the first-aide kit out of her car. She held it out to him right away. "Already got it. You think I'm slow?"

At that moment an enormous bang tore through the air and the pressure wave knocked them off their feet when the car exploded. Pieces of metal, glass and fibreglass shot around them like bullets. Every single one of them was shaking and kept their heads down. "Holy shit!" Letty hissed and touched Mia's arm. Dom was the first one to look back at the spot where Brian**'**s car had been before and then checked on his friends to make sure everybody was all right. He got back on his feet and helped Mia up. "Everybody all right?" Mia and Letty nodded, while Leon brushed the dirt off his shirt and looked around slightly confused. Toretto kneeled down next to Brian. "That was close." He threw a worried glance at his friend's injured leg and his pale features. Dom couldn't believe what the Mexican had done. He could feel worry and anger broil inside of him. A mix of emotions that made him jump up in rage. He turned around and shouted at Letty. "Brian**'**s fucking bone's sticking out. Do something!" Sweat appeared on his forehead.

Letty kneeled down next to Brian raking around in the first-aide kit while the ex cop tried to get a look at his own leg now. Dom's words scared him. Mia kneeled down as well and calmly said to Letty. "Try to immobilize the broken leg with a splint of some kind and apply a tourniquet above the break to slow the loss of blood. He could go into shock." At that point Dom wasn't able to contain his anger any longer. He stood up and ran off towards his car. "Where are you going?" Letty yelled after him**,** but didn't get an answer. She didn't need one. She knew. Dom was gonna go after Dominques. No matter how good of a friend Brian was to Dom, he was a friend and didn't deserve this. Dom was out for revenge.

"Dom! Stop! Dom!" Mia screamed at the top of her lungs**,** but her brother slammed the door shut and sped off. "Shit! Dom, don't do this." She had tears of frustration in her hazel eyes. The last time Dom was out for revenge, he had almost beaten the guy to death, which resulted in him doing time in Lompoc. A long time. Mia didn't want to loose her brother again. "Dom!" she shouted once more with watered up eyes.

"Help me!" Letty ordered her. Mia turned around and realized that Brian was moaning loudly, while Letty ripped the slit in his jeans further apart. Seeing him like this wrenched her heart. A tear rolled down her cheek as she stood there immobilized not knowing what to do. Suddenly her whole world seemed to fall apart.

"Mia, snap out of it! You know how to do this stuff. Give me something for a splint." Letty shouted at her. Then she pointed at a man watching her putting her own belt as a tourniquet on Brian**'**s upper leg. "And you! You take your damn cell phone and call an ambulance."

Leon shook his head. "No, I'll drive. That's faster."

"Thanks, Leon." Brian mumbled and let his head fall back because he couldn't take Letty's jerking any longer.

Dom's anger was only surpassed by the speed at which he was driving. His dark eyes spotted Dominques at the finish line, rage making the blood in his veins pump a little faster. The Mexican was neither stupid nor slow. He knew Toretto**'**s reputation. That man hardly ever lost his cool but when he did, he really did. Hector saw Dom**'**s car speeding towards him and jumped into his Porsche as if he was struck by lightning, fired it up and floored it. A second later Dom caught up with him and chased him down an alley leading away from the race scene. He would kill the bastard if he got his hands on him- no matter whether he'd go to jail or get injured or leave Letty and Mia behind. Consequences weren't on his mind. But payback was.


	9. Chapter 9 Against the clock

1Chapter 9 - Against the clock

A few people were standing at a 24hr corner store smoking a cigarette when two cars flew by. A large guy in a old shirt scratched his head and slowly asked. "Whoa, man. Did you just see that?" His slightly drunk friend blinked at him. "What?"

The Porsche had a hard time losing his follower. Dom was a great driver and he was out to get Dominques. He was so close on his tail that he scratched his bumper a few times but couldn't get the Mexican to stop. The man cursed**,** his eyes fixed on the road throwing the odd look in the rear view mirror. Both cars sped around corners and through dark alleys. Neither one of them was about to give up. While they were racing down another dark street, Dominques reached into his glove compartment to pull out a 9mm.

Across town two other cars were flying down the street at equally high speed. They were on a different mission though as one of them held a seriously injured passenger. Brian O'Connor. The seat was all the way back but still didn't quite provide enough room for his broken leg, which he clutched with a loud groan. "Fuck, Leon. Watch the bumps." He'd hardly ever been in that much pain before and couldn't help moaning. It seemed like a way of coping with the pain. He was shivering and his lips had turned white. Leon threw a worried glance at the man in the seat beside him wondering whether it might have been a better idea to let the ambulance pick up his buddy. In the car behind him Mia's knuckles were white because she clutched the seat so hard.

"Let's just hope there aren't any cops on our way to the hospital."

"Other than Brian." Letty remarked. She saw Mia's frown and mumbled. "Sorry, girl. That wasn't funny."

"Yeah, just drive!" Mia snapped.

They now entered a large four lane road and passed a few nightly drivers by.

"What are you gonna do about him? Do you know, Mia?" The older woman enquired while she followed Leon's car closely.

Mia shook her head. "Let's not talk about that right now. I just hope he's gonna be okay."

"He will be." Her friend assured her trying to sound confident.

"Yo, Brian. Don't pass out on me now!" Leon shook Brian**'**s arm while pushing the gas pedal down. He was way over the speed limit but his teammate had closed his eyes and let his head fall back.

He shook him once more and Brian opened his blue eyes slightly and mumbled. "I'm not. Are we there yet?" The young cop didn't think that there would ever be a day when he wanted to get to a hospital fast. He was shaking considerably now and let his head fall back again causing Leon to grab his arm once more. He didn't get a reaction this time.

At a red traffic light**,** Dominques decided that this was his opportunity to lose Dom. So**,** he slowed down and almost came to a stop, with Dom getting ready to jump out of his seat. As soon as the dealer saw Dom reach for his door in the rear view mirror, he floored his gas pedal and sped up with squeaking tires. His car almost hit an oncoming car but swerved and got away. Of course Dom didn't let the red light get in his way**,** and left just as much tire on the tarmac speeding up and following the Porsche into the oncoming traffic. With a couple of cars in between them he couldn't spot the German high performance vehicle.

A flashy race car came to a screeching halt in front of the emergency vehicle entrance of California Hospital Med Center**,** closely followed by another one. Leon jumped out a second later.

A medic walked towards him. "Sir, you can't park here. The entrance needs to stay accessi..."

He was cut off by Leon. "I've got a guy in my car that's been seriously injured in a car accident. I suggest you help us."

The young man nodded and walked towards the passenger door and opened it. He threw a quick glance at Brian and then felt for his pulse. "Run in and tell them to get a gurney out here fast!"

Letty and Mia appeared behind him both worried sick while the medic carefully checked Brian's breathing and pulse. He saw the makeshift splint and the blood**-**soaked bandage that held it in place. "Compound fracture?"

"Hm." Letty answered.

"Any damage to his neck?"

"I don't think so**,**" the woman replied.

A moment later another medic appeared behind him with a gurney. The first medic gave him the stats while he reached around Brian**'**s back and under his arms. The second man carefully lifted his legs slightly. Drowsily Brian opened his eyes groaning. The men lifted his lanky body out of the car seat and onto the gurney where they quickly buckled him up and hurried away into the hospital.

Mia had a hard time fighting off hysteria. She ran after them together with Letty and Leon. The medics brought Brian into the trauma room near the reception and put him on an examination table, where the attending physician took over together with her nursing staff. They ordered Mia, who tried to follow them in, to wait outside in the waiting area. She gave them a pleading look but got nowhere. At least they left the door open a gap so she could peep in.

The red haired stern locking female doctor told her nurses to unwrap the makeshift splint, undress the wound and cut off Brian's pants in order for her to examine him. She carefully checked pulse, breathing and the wound, asked him a couple of questions and then told her staff how to proceed. A clip was attached to Brian's finger, which read his pulse giving a steady but fast beep. They put a needle for an I.V. in his vein in order to administer fluids to balance out the blood loss and gave him oxygen.

When Mia's gaze fell upon Brian's now clearly visible leg wound she nearly threw up. Quickly she turned around and covered her mouth with her hand. Letty, who was sitting down in a plastic chair, got up and rubbed her friend's back and gave her a hug while she whispered. "He's gonna be okay."

Mia was still in Letty's arms but kept peeping into the ER with wide open eyes. Her look fell upon the tortured expression on his face.

Brian opened his eyes again and searched for Mia's hand and groaned.

"What do you need?" A young male nurse asked. He was about 25 years old, tall and had long dark hair in a pony tail.

He came towards the slightly ajar door and, just when Mia wanted to step aside, he whispered. "Mia? He's asking for you. C'mon in for a moment."

The young woman nodded thankfully and followed him in. She softly grabbed Brian's blood covered hand. She had a hard time putting a normal expression on her face.

Brian lifted his head and threw a glance at his leg. For the first time he actually saw the whole damage. He clutched it with shaking fingers his eyes welling up with tears. "Shit." he moaned. Mia nodded and almost couldn't hold back her own tears any longer seeing him like that. She grabbed his hand tighter. "You're gonna be fine. Don't worry."

He reached for her hand with both hands now and pulled her towards him whispering**,** while tears ran down the side of his face. "Don't let them take my leg. Tell them I need to keep my leg!" Her arms reached around his neck and held him tight while she sobbed.

"Don't say that. Nobody's gonna take your leg. You'll be fine. You just need a cast." She held him tightly and felt so helpless and terrible. There was nothing she could do or say that would actually help him except for maybe that she still wanted to be with him. But she wasn't ready for that and she wasn't gonna lie, so she just held him tight feeling his breathing getting faster.

A glance at Brian's pale shaking features and fast breathing was all the doctor needed.

"He's going into shock. Step away, mam. Your husband needs to be operated on right away." She pushed Mia aside who tried to follow them but soon found herself held back by Leon. "Let them do their thing, Mia." Immediately she turned around and tried to find something or somebody to hold on to to give her strength, as she was about to lose it. Leon was more than willing to be that somebody.

Elsewhere…..

Henrico Dominques made a clever move as he decided to turn his car into a dark alley when Dom's car was a couple of cars behind him. He turned around a couple of corners but couldn't spot Toretto's car in his mirror any longer. Slowly he came to a halt in the shade of a few tall, run down buildings. He breathed hard as he cocked his gun, loaded with his very own deadly bullets; bullets that could even go through protective vests, and held it tight on his lap.


	10. Chapter 10 Gotcha

1Chapter 10 - Gotcha

Dom's dark brown eyes carefully scanned the dark alleys for any sign of the Porsche 911 while he let his car roll by with the engine making as little sound as possible. His face wore a frown. How could he possibly lose Dominques? Where was he? He had to be around probably hiding somewhere close by.

His cell phone rang in his pocket. He reached for it, threw a quick glance on the tiny screen, and saw Letty's name. For a moment he thought he should answer her call because she was probably worried. Then again she would ask him to stop following the Mexican and he wasn't about to do it. So he shut the cell off and put it on the seat next to him.

Letty cursed at her phone. Of course, she knew exactly why her call suddenly went his mailbox. She rolled her brown eyes, pushed a strand of hair back, and said with a lot of attitude. "Listen, Dom. I don't know what you're doing out there but I think you're probably just screwing yourself! You should come to California Hospital Med Center. Spilner or whatever his real name is went into shock." She was about to hang up and chewed on her lip but then put the phone to her ear again and added in a nicer, softer tone. "Be careful." Then she shut it off and lit a cigarette. She was standing in front of the emergency entrance and took a deep drag. Her eyes wandered towards the door but she really didn't want to go back in. Too many bad memories about hospitals. Sighing she blew smoke out though her nose.

Inside the hospital Mia sat in the waiting area. Leon was drinking a cup of coffee from a machine nearby. The one he had brought for Mia was still in her hands while she stared at the wall ahead. Her friend looked at his watch and noticed that it was 2 am by now. Then he looked at her from the side. Her long dark hair was hanging loose down her back. She put the cup on the empty seat next to her, pulled her knees up to her chest, and reached her arms around them resting her chin on her knees. Suddenly she noticed that Leon was watching her. She cocked her head sideways and gave him a sad and tired look. Leon had no idea what to say to her so he just gave her a weak smile. Mia smiled back and then fixed her eyes on the opposite wall again. Her thoughts went back to Brian who was still in the operating room. Who knows what they were doing to him in there or whether he'd really be all right as she had told him. Maybe she should have told Brian that she still wanted to be with him. Maybe she should have even told him that she loved him. Maybe that would have helped. But was it true?

Dom's eyes suddenly fell upon the dark outline of the Porsche as he passed another alley. He slowly stopped his car, killed the engine, and reached under the seat where he kept his gun. Holding it tight, he got out and tiptoed his way towards the car down the dark alley hiding in the shadows of the buildings. From his position he could make out a person in the driver seat. Was this a trap? He wrapped both hands around the handle of his weapon squinting into the darkness. As soon as he got close enough to be seen, he ducked down and ran to the driver door. A second later he tore it open and hit the driver square across the face with the butt of his gun.

The man was so surprised that he fired a single shot to where he though the attacker was standing. The bullet grazed Dom's muscular arm just slightly but he didn't even feel it when he kicked the gun out of the man's hand. With adrenalin pumping through his body he aimed his gun right at Dominques' surprised face. Dom didn't smile, he didn't talk, he just stared. For a split second he wondered whether he should just shoot him. After all the Mexican had shot first and it would be self defense. His jaw was clenched and his jaw muscles worked as he gave the man the most evil look.

"What do you want?" Dominques enquired with a shaky voice.

Dom kept staring at him. He saw the fear in his eyes as the Mexican looked down the barrel of his gun. Then Dom spoke in a very slow, low voice. "You're an embarrassment to every street racer."

Dominques started shaking slightly. Something that could definitely not be seen every day. "What do you mean?"

"You ran my friend off the road." He paused and pushed his gun a little closer in Dominques' direction. "That's not how we race. We race hard and fast but fair. Hand over those keys."

The man in front of him blinked. He couldn't believe his ears. "You're friend lost and so did you."

Dom slowly shook his head as he felt the rage boil up inside again and said through gritted teeth. "The moment you pushed him off the road you lost that race." Then he reached out his hand.

Dominques looked at his keys in the ignition and then the gun that was laying just about 30 cm below it.


	11. Chapter 11 At the hospital

1Chapter 11 - At the hospital

At the hospital Letty finally made her way back inside and saw Mia pacing the floor.

Time seemed to pass by way to slowly while she was waiting to find out whether Brian would be okay or not.

"Sit down, girl. You make me nervous!" Letty ordered her.

Mia gave her a nasty look. "Oh, yeah? Dom's making me nervous and Brian is in there is making me nervous and all these doctors and arghh, I don't know. Did you get a hold of my brother?"

Letty shook her head. "He knows what he's doing."

Mia rolled her eyes at that comment just as a doctor approached her from the back.

"You're here with Mr. O'Conner?" His expression didn't give anything away and Mia almost jumped at him trying to make him talk.

"I can't give you any details but the operation went well and he's being brought to an intensive care room right now."

"Intensive care?" Mia gasped her hazel eyes wide open.

"Standard procedure when somebody goes into shock. You can see him when he wakes up." He gave her slight smile and turned around.

Mia froze and wondered whether this was good or bad news.

Leon wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You heard him, standard procedure."

Half an hour later Brian slowly opened his blue eyes slightly just to close them immediately again. He could hear a steady beep as he tried to recall what had happened. It took a while. Five minutes later he made his second attempt to open his eyes and succeeded. The first thing he gazed at was his toes sticking out of a long wrapped up splint which held his left leg. Brian sighed with relief.

"Oh, sleeping beauty is awake!" an unfamiliar voice said jokingly. Brian turned his head slightly to see the male nurse with the long black ponytail checking an IV attached to his arm. "What's up, bro. How do you feel?" the young nurse asked very unprofessionally but he thought Brian was the type of guy who appreciated his talk.

Brian thought about his question for a moment. He really couldn't feel much but tired and exhausted but whispered with a hoarse voice. "Like shit."

"Ah, really?" The guy enquired. "Can you wiggle your toes for me?"

"Why?"

"Just making sure everything still works down there!" The nurse replied.

So Brian wiggled his toes and got an odd numb sensation of pain from his leg before the young man checked for feeling in his toes and then explained. "We cleaned your wound out to prevent an infection and set the bone straight. You're lucky, it was just one straight fracture. We put some nails in to hold it in place because the tibia is such a massive bone it has troubles healing properly. Then we stitched you up. Sorry, we couldn't put a cast on right away. The splint will have to do until the swelling has gone down in about two days."

Brian was way too tired to follow everything he said, which was probably a good thing.

"Your other leg only suffered some bruising as did your arms and shoulders." The nurse got a little closer and whispered. "Bucket seat with racing belts, I suppose? Any chance you got injured in a street race? I mean I heard your friend pulled up in a pretty nice race car."

"That's really none of your business." Mia's voice chipped in from behind the nurse.

The man jumped a little. "It's not, you're right. I just like racing..." He gave Brian a friendly slap on the shoulder. "If you don't move around too much you should be fine. We hit you up with our finest selection of antibiotics and pain killers. You should be really fine, man!" He smirked. Apparently the guy was bit of comedian.

"Ring if you need something." He left giving Mia and Brian a moment of privacy.

The young woman sat down on a chair next to his bed and looked at him.

Brian was hooked up to an IV, oxygen and several heart rate patches. He wore a hospital gown and his leg was in a splint from his toes to his hip. His skin was still pale and the sandy blond waves ruffled but he looked a lot better than when they had brought him in.

Mia took his hand and sighed. Their eyes locked and she barely dared to blink. Brian wondered why she didn't say anything. "You okay, Mia?" he enquired.

She smiled wearily. "Funny you are asking me that! I should be asking you."

Brian smiled back.

She squeezed his hand as if she wanted to say something but didn't quite know how.

With her other hand she brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear and mumbled. "I was really worried about you."

"I'm sorry." Brian gave her another smile.

"No, wait, please." Mia told him.

Brian raised his eyebrows and fixed his eyes on her.

Mia swallowed and then continued. "There's something I have to say to you." She tried to find the right words and scooted a little closer. "I was so worried, more than I would be for any friend. So when I was sitting out there waiting for you while they operated on you I thought about why I was so worried." She paused again while Brian was getting his hopes up.

"I do care about you more than just a friend and this situation showed me that I still love you. I still wanna be with you." She took a deep breath and looked into his face which brightened with a huge smile.

Brian fished for her hand to pull her close to him and then wrapped his arms around her. Mia got up and let him do it and leaned on his chest burying her face in his neck. She placed a soft kiss on it and whispered. "I'm so glad you are okay."

Brian didn't let her go. "I'm so glad about what you said. I love you." Mia's eyes widened as she held on tight and suddenly a small tear of joy ran down her cheek. When she pulled back she wiped it away and smiled at him before they kissed each other softly.

Letty and Leon were still waiting outside as they had been told that only one person could go in at a time. Letty paced the floor like a tiger in a cage. She kept pulling out her cell and putting it back her low rider jeans pocket when she didn't find a message on the screen. "Fuck it, I'm gonna go look for Dom." Leon nodded. "I'll help you! Who knows, maybe he's in trouble."


	12. Chapter 12 Face off

Chapter 12- Face off

In a dark alley in a sketchy part of town

With his eyes narrowed the dealer listened to Dom's words. This man had the guts. He called him unfair, and an embarrassment to all racers.

Inwardly he smirked. Toretto was right. He was unfair and quite happy about it. That's how he played-unfair. Why take the chance of losing? Then again the man in front of him told him that's why he lost. Undecided whether he should really give up the keys to his car or simply shoot Dom, he looked at the keys and then at the gun, that had fallen just next to his gas pedal. It would be easy to grab it. And it's exactly what he did. Before Dom knew what was happening Dominques pointed the gun back at him.

Dom was surprised, he didn't see it coming. This guy had balls reaching for his own gun while looking down the barrel of Dom's. Both men stared each other in the eye. Uneasy, tense. A terrible moment. Who would pull the trigger first?

Then something even more unexpected happened. Dominques shifted the gun to his left hand, reached for the keys and held them out to Dom. "Say regards to your friend."

Dom frowned at him. What kind of a trick was this? Dominques read his expression and added. "I can buy a new one of these cars any day. I make good money."

Dom shrugged and grabbed the key while pointing the gun at the man's forehead.

With a slight smile Dominques added. "Are you interested in making so much money that you can give away car keys?"

With clenched jaw the younger man glared at him before he answered. "Are you freaking kidding? I wouldn't take your money." Then he made his way away from the door and rumbled. "Get out and start walking!"

Dominques nodded his head, put his gun in his belt and got out. "That's exactly why I would offer you a job. You have balls…and you drive well."

Everybody knew that was an understatement but Dom didn't give a damn. While he watched the man make his way down the alley, he shouted after him. "I wouldn't work for you for a million bucks."

When Dominques reached the intersection that led to the alley, he spotted a second car next to Dom's. In front of it, he saw a sexy woman with olive skin and dark hair and another man leaning against it. He smiled at the woman and kept walking.

She watched Dom come towards her and said with her arms folded across her chest. "Maybe next time you tell us where you are so we can come and pick your body up when you fuck with people like him."

Dom gave her a smile and lifted his hands in defence. "What? Everything's fine, Letty!" He came up to her and gave her a quick kiss but she turned away. His expression became serious. "C'mon, everything's okay. He even offered me a job. I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" she asked in a very sarcastic tone. With that she got back in the car and motioned for him to follow her.

Leon just shrugged at them both. "You're bleeding, man!"

Dom nodded and looked at his tricep. "Yeah, that's just a scratch."

Leon kept chewing his gum. "Hm."

"How's Spilner?" Dom enquired.

"I don't know. Didn't look so good when I saw him last. He's alive."

"That's good. He'll be happy to see this." Dom dangled the keys of the Porsche from his index finger. "I'll go there now. See you at the house."

Leon nodded. He was happy to go home and take a shower. He still had Brian's blood on his clothes. Letty however frowned. She wasn't happy. Dom would get to hear something from her, when he came home. "Scared the living daylights out of me." she muttered.

At the hospital

With quick steps Dom made his way down the hallways of the hospital. He had wrapped a bandage from the first aid kit around the graze on his arm so nobody would come up with the idea of trying to touch him while he was at the hospital. A nurse pointed him in the right direction. When he arrived at the intensive care room and threw a worried look through the window, he wasn't surprised when he spotted his sister on a chair next to his friend's bed. She was asleep. Dom carefully pushed down the door handle and immediately got goosebumps when he heard the beeping of the heart rate monitor and smelled the sterile air. How he hated hospitals. For a moment he glanced at Brian and his wrapped up leg. He was asleep as well. Dom cleared his throat and got the response he wanted.

Brian opened his eyes briefly but closed them again and groaned. "Dom."

Toretto got closer and pulled a chair next to Brian's bed. In an unusually soft, but still low voice he asked. "How are you, man?"

Brian blinked at him. "Seriously?"

Dom shook his head. After a pause he smiled. "I got him, Brian. And I got this for you."

He held out the keys. When Brian heard the jingle he lifted his head and reached for the keys. "No way. How did you do that?" Suddenly he was much more awake and tried to sit up in bed, which proved to be a bad idea as it sent a sharp pain from his leg up to his hip. He winced.

Dom frowned seeing his friend in pain. "I should have shot the bastard."

"No, we'll get him with this." Brian smiled at the keys. "Thanks a lot, bro."

Toretto nodded and then looked at Mia. A moment passed when they didn't say anything. Then Dom gave Brian a friendly slap on the shoulder and said. "I gotta get going. Letty's waiting. Give Mia a kiss from me…if she let's you." He got up with a smirk on his lips.

"I'll see you soon."

Brian nodded and played with the keys in his hand. "She will." A smile crossed his face as he looked at her slender form curled up in the chair. "Maybe you should take her home though."

"She's old enough to decide when she wants to go home." Dom left and closed the door.

Brian watched Mia for a while before he let his head fall back against the bed and closed his hand around the keys under his covers.


	13. Chapter 13 Unexpected Occurrence 1

Chapter 13- Unexpected Occurrence Number 1

Within 3 days Brian was moved to a normal hospital room because his condition was stable. He was also lucky enough not to have gotten an infection and the splint around his leg was exchanged for a white plaster cast. The doctor also decided to stop monitoring his heart rate because it had been on a constant normal level. But to Brian's disappointment he had to keep the I.V.. Even though his condition improved the pain seemed to become worse because Brian was better, fidgeting around more and on less pain killers. He wasn't gonna let it bring him down though. He was on his way to recovery and hopefully out of the hospital soon.

Mia took the opportunity to trade the uncomfortable sleeping position on the chair next to him for her own bed at home but stopped by every day after work.

Instead of getting a good night**'s** sleep at home she became witness to a rather heated argument between her brother and Letty.

"What the hell were you doing out there by yourself? High **N**oon? Fucking looked like it! You could be in a gutter face down with a hole in the back of your head right now. Or you could be in prison because you didn't control your anger!" Red-faced with anger she spat her accusations at him.

He held her gaze. Simply looked at her. He didn't even try to argue with her. Usually she won anyway. Plus she was right.

Letty kept staring at him. "Answer me!"

Dom looked back at her and wondered what he could say to calm her down. He decided not to say anything.

His girlfriend came a little closer and hissed. "Dom! You have responsibility for more than yourself. You have to be there for Mia and… me." Her tone became a little softer.

Finally he reacted in a low, calm voice. "I know. That's why I took my gun. I was in charge of the situation! And for some reason I felt it was my responsibility to go after the guy for what he did to Brian. So there…I took responsibility."

Letty's eyes widened. "For Brian? You're not responsible for him. He's a cop! Oh man!"

"Yes, but he's also a friend and what Dominques did wasn't right. I also feel responsible to keep racing fair and safe. That's how we do it. If this rich bastard thinks he can come by and wave his money and break the rules, he's gotta be taught some respect."

Letty nodded briefly. "You'd better take care of us though!"

Dom agreed. "We better lock the door tonight."

A weak smile crossed Letty's lips before she hugged him and whispered in his ear. "I'm just worried. That's all, Dom."

Dom placed his lips on hers and held her tight for a moment. "Don't worry, baby. He's not gonna to hurt us."

Before they went to bed, they made sure doors and windows were closed just to be on the safe side.

Brian on the contrary was in a pretty good mood, watching TV until three rather unexpected things happened:

The first thing happened the same night, that Letty and Dom had their argument. Brian was watching TV when the news came on. Most of the occurrences didn't catch his interest until he heard about a shoot out downtown between a gang and several police officers. He turned the TV up hoping he wouldn't wake up the patient in the other bed. While pictures of flashing lights of police cars and ambulances were shown, the anchor explained.

"Despite the fact that police clearly outnumbered the gang members, most of them got away. Two suspects were arrested. Per standard procedure, the officers at the scene were equipped with bullet proof vests. However three officers were shot and wounded. It was almost as if they didn't even wear vests. All three are in critical condition and were transported to surrounding hospitals. We will keep you updated on the situation. From downtown Los Angeles this is Julia Nickelson, GBC News."

Brian stared at the TV in horror. For a moment it was as if time stood still in a very uncomfortable way as he stared at the screen with wide open eyes. For him it was clear why the vests didn't protect his colleagues. The gang members must have used Dominques' illegal bullets. Immediately it shot through his mind that, if he had already arrested the Mexican dealer, all of this might not have happened. He had to stop the man as fast as possible before more innocent people would be killed. Wondering whether one of the wounded cops might be brought to his hospital he decided to see for himself. He needed to know whether his colleagues were wounded by one of those bullets.

His gaze fell upon his leg, which was elevated in a sling because of the extensive reconstructive surgery, which had been done. Brian knew very well that he wasn't supposed to move his leg and that it would be painful. Contemplating whether or not he should get out of bed and how to do it, his anger and worries got the better of him and he slowly pulled the cast backwards out of the sling, which didn't feel too pleasant but was bearable. Unfortunately he couldn't get out all the way. A quick glance was thrown at the other patient. Maybe the man would help him. Most likely he would alarm the nurse though. Brian pulled himself up to reach for the hooks of the sling and undid them making the cast fall onto the bed. Sharp pain shot up his leg and made him moan rather loudly. "F..ck!" He cursed and then bit his lips throwing another glance at the man, who kept sleeping soundly.

He waited a moment for the pain to subside and then slowly sat up in bed lowering the cast onto the floor. Then he pulled himself up by the end of the bed and held onto the I.V. stand which looked like a rolling coat hanger. It took him a moment to find his balance. Then he took the I.V. bag off its hook and put it between his teeth. Maybe it would be easier to just pull it out of his arm. It itched and was a nuisance anyway but who knew what was in the bag and what that would do to him. Slowly he hopped alongside the bed, still holding on to its side. Damn, if it took him 10 minutes just to leave the room how would he ever get to the E.R.?

He wasn't going to give up though. Carefully he inched his way across the room to get his hands on the wheelchair of his sleeping roommate. For part of the way he leaned on the rolling tray table huffing and puffing like a steam engine. He wasn't aware in what bad shape he actually was until he got out of bed. Brian was glad to sit down in the wheelchair and rest his leg on one of the footrests. Since he was only clad in a hospital gown, he was happy not to have to show his bare butt to everybody on the way any longer. His gaze fell upon a blanket on a chair in the corner. That would be good to cover his leg. So he grabbed it and threw it across the cast and his lap.

Carefully he opened the door slightly and looked outside. He had to wait for the nurses and doctor on duty to leave the station in the hallway. It seemed to take forever and the wait made him antsy and uneasy. Through the gap of the door he watched a nurse go into another patient's room at the other end of the hallway. Unfortunately three other nurses and a doctor remained at the station. But someone else's emergency eventually worked to Brian's advantage. Suddenly two of the nurses and the doctor rushed away to help whoever was in that room after their colleague had called them on the intercom. Brian's heart started beating a bit faster as he saw his opportunity arise. He was lucky enough that his room was at the end of the corridor and difficult to see for the remaining nurse since she was standing at the north east corner of the station and couldn't see what was going on in the south west corner, which was were Brian was making his way out of his room. He made a dash for the elevators pushing the wheels as hard as he could. At the elevator, Brian pressed the button and shot a glance back down the hallway crossing his fingers that she wouldn't return before he got a chance to get into it.

He was lucky. With a bing the doors opened and he wheeled himself in trying to catch his breath.

"Hey there." A voice behind him startled him.

Brian's head shot around and looked into round face of a young curly headed girl dressed in a nurse's uniform, who smiled at him. His bright blue eyes fell on her hospital I.D., which had her name, Shirley Miller, and a photo. She looked very young. Almost as if she was still in school.

A bit of hope returned because Brian thought that she might be a nurse's aide or something like that judging by her looks. Maybe she didn't know he wasn't supposed to be rolling around.

"Could I ask you a favour?" He said politely.

"Sure. What is it?" She enquired.

"I need to go down to the emergency room. Could you push me?"

"I'm actually off right now." Apparently she pitied him though. "Well, aren't you supposed to be in your room? What's so urgent that you need to go there right now?"

She seemed willing to help, so he leaned forward and said, "I'm a police officer with the LAPD. I have to see my colleague. He's in the E.R. right now. It's got something to do with an investigation but I can't tell you more. Please help me."

The girl swallowed hard. Was she supposed to believe this? She decided to give it a go. He was cute. Reason enough for her to help. So instead of answering him, she grabbed the handles when the elevator door opened and pushed him down the hallway towards the E.R.

Since he was being pushed nobody questioned his intention. No nurse, doctor, security or cleaning person. Shirley saved him. Before they reached the E.R. they noticed that staff was disappearing towards it, when suddenly sirens could be heard.

"Can you get me to the entrance?" he enquired nervously.

The nurse's aide shook her head. Even she knew that she wasn't supposed to enter the E.R.

Brian saw the hesitant almost scared look on her face. So he nodded. "Maybe you'd better go now. I don't want to get you into trouble. Thanks for helping me out, Shirley."

She smiled at him and replied. "Yes, you're welcome. I'll stop by another day and see how it went. What room are you in?"

"That would be nice but I have no idea about the room number. I'm Brian…Spilner."

"I'll find you" With these words she turned leaving behind Brian, who carefully opened the door to the E.R. a gap. Then he grabbed the I.V. bag and pushed himself out of the wheelchair. When he found his balance, he hopped through the slightly opened door holding on to it tightly. Before he knew what was happening, the opposite doors pushed open and a man was quickly ushered in on a gurney. He was surrounded in emergency staff but the glimpse that Brian got was long enough to see that the man was uniformed and covered in blood. He had to be one of the wounded officers. Brian's mouth stood open because within a very short glimpse he recognized the older officer, whom he had gotten to know when he joined the LAPD. They'd even shared a desk for a month, while Brian was in training. Tim McRaney. Served LA's citizens for over 20 years.

If Brian had been anywhere near a chair and not in a cast he probably would have let himself fall back because his knees buckled. The young cop's face turned white and he stared at the medical staff and patient when suddenly a nurse noticed him and shouted. "What are you doing here? Can't you read? No entry!"

Before Brian could explain that he wanted to find out about the bullet, she rushed towards him asking him a million questions at once like how he got to the E.R., what he needed or wanted and that he should be more careful where he was going. Brian, however, didn't want to answer all her questions, but rather, he wanted to know about the bullet and his former partner. The lady didn't listen, she simply reached for his wrist and checked his patient I.D. bracelet, then called an orderly to help in getting him back in his chair and then back to his room. While Brian still tried to explain why he was there, she 'helped' him out of the E.R., handed him over to the orderly and closed the door behind her. At that moment Brian could hear somebody say something like… 'unusual shape of entry wound'. In the young officer's mind that meant that the wound had to be caused by one of Dominques' bullets.

Brian was seated back in the wheelchair and tried to wrap his mind around what he had just seen and listened to their loud voices and hectic shouts coming from inside the room. While he was being pushed back towards the elevator the young cop sighed in frustration. He hadn't achieved anything except for being even more worried.

A few minutes later Brian was delivered to his room and a rather angry looking nurse. The look on her face shook Brian out of his thoughts. She helped him back into bed without a word and lifted his leg back up in the sling making him wince. Clearly she was fuming. Then she folded her arms across her chest, stared him up and down and then asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"What were you doing rolling around?"

When he didn't answer right away she bristled with anger.

"What do you think will happen, Mr. O'Conner, when you hop around in the hospital, slip and hurt yourself?" Her usually friendly blue eyes had turned to almost grey. "I'll tell you what: Heads will roll. We are responsible for you and we have to know where you are. So if there are places you think you need to be you ask us! Understood?"

A sheepish look spread on Brian's face. He didn't even think about the nurses here and that he might cause them trouble. He felt sorry for upsetting the usually very nice lady.

The woman noticed his changed expression but still waited for an apology. She gave him a stern, motherly look and hung the I.V. bag back in the right place and checked it. Then she closed the hooks on the sling again reminding Brian once more why it had been a bad idea to pull the cast out of it. He tried not to show it but automatically flinched when she moved the cast slightly.

"That's your own fault, young man. You know well enough that you're not supposed to wander around and if you did any damage it's your own fault. We'll probably do some X-Rays in the morning to be sure." She scolded. "What were you doing out and about anyway?" The woman in her mid- fifties waited for a reply but since the young cop didn't expect any help from her, she didn't get an answer.

He simply mumbled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you problems."

"Fine. Night, Mr. O'Conner. I'll go write my report on your excursion now!" Spinning around on her heel she left the room and a rather confused, worried and aggrieved Brian behind. For most of the night he couldn't sleep but stared at the ceiling because she had placed the remote control of the TV too far away to reach. Probably her kind of revenge.

Across town, Dom was awakened by a sound. Unsure what it was he grabbed his gun and sneaked downstairs in his boxers. He wondered whether Dominques had sent his men to kill him. Every muscle in his body tensed up as he held his 9mm tight. Like a cat he tiptoed down the stairs when suddenly the light was turned and he came face to face with Leon, who stared at his gun. "Whoa, man! Put that away!"

When Dom lowered his gun and relaxed, his friend enquired: "A bit jumpy, huh?"

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Dom growled.

"My girlfriend kicked me out. So I thought I come here." He waved the spare keys from under a plant pot outside. "What's wrong with you?"

Dom nervously ran his hand over his bald head. "C'mon in. I'll tell you!"


	14. Chapter 14 Unexpected Occurrence 2

Chapter 14 - Unexpected Occurrence number 2

_At the hospital._

When Brian drowsily opened his eyes the next morning, he could see the outline of a man in front of the bright morning sunlight coming in through the window. His heart almost skipped a beat and he sat up straight in bed within a second with his heart rate jumping to 150 at once until he heard the familiar laughter of his boss.

The man stepped away from the window and now showed his friendly but worried face. "Relax, O'Conner. It's just me."

Brian frowned slightly and then leaned back on his elbow. "I'm sorry, I didn't call you, Sergeant I know I should have. I was going to today."

His superior gave him a half-smile. "Yes, you should have. But I can see you're a little preoccupied."

"Preoccupied, yeah." Brian smirked at his choice of words.

"It took us two whole days to figure out where you were after you missed your routine call on Saturday." He scolded. "We kept searching for a Mr. Spilner. Why on earth did you give the hospital your real name? Only at the second attempt we started searching for Brian O'Conner and found you!"

Brian's eyes widened because this little detail had absolutely escaped his attention. A big mistake for an undercover cop. "What? Shit! I didn't give them my name." That's when he suddenly bit his tongue to avoid telling Bilkins that Mia must have given the hospital staff his real name, which would reveal that Brian told her who he really was, which, of course, he wasn't supposed to do.

"You must have. That's how we found you!" The Sergeant explained.

"Could you do me a favour and change that for me, so I don't accidentally blow my cover." Brian was thinking of Dominques.

"Will do." Showing true concern, his boss asked. "How are you? And how on earth did this happen?"

Brian though about it for a moment. He didn't like to remember that night. It was still pretty scary and painful in his memory and he couldn't even imagine getting back behind the wheel right now. He would eventually but right now he was just happy to be half-well. His eyes wandered down to the long cast and he wondered what his boss might think.

So he started explaining. "I raced against Henrico Dominques because he said the winner would win his car, which is exactly what we needed! Dom Toretto was in the race as well. It was looking pretty good…" Brian remembered the race night. "…because there was only a straight stretch after that long corner and I still had all my NOS."

He pause goose bumps spreading on his skin as he remembered the accident.

"I would have won if he hadn't decided right there and then that he would run me off the road. He swerved and hit my car and I flew off the road against a truck." His voice became slow and his face became a frown talking about the accident. "Totalled the car and broke my leg." He downplayed his injuries.

His boss searched his face but gave him a moment to gather his composure.

"Toretto pulled me out." Brian looked into his boss's eyes as if to say that Dom was a good guy and shouldn't have been persecuted in the first place.

Bilkins was more interested in another fact. "Dominques ran you off the road on purpose?"

"Yes." Brian's light blue eyes met his dark brown ones and they locked for a moment until his boss said in a matter-of-fact fashion, "I'm pulling you off this case!"

The young agent looked at him shocked. "What?"

"You heard me, O'Conner."

"What? You can't do that. If you do that everything was for nothing!" He motioned to his leg.

For a moment it looked like Bilkins was contemplating but then he confirmed his first statement. "It's too dangerous. He tried to kill you, if you ask me. He probably knows you're after him. We don't have any proof but I think that's what happened. Plus look at you. You're in a hospital bed. How you gonna solve a case from here? You're out."

He turned around as if to say. 'End of discussion.'

Brian sat up straight. "Wait. What about Tim McRaney? He was shot with one of Dominques' bullets, I'm sure. I don't even know if Tim's alive! But what will you tell him if he's gonna pull through? Sorry, we gave up on the guy who sold those bullets? I can catch him together with Toretto. I know that! I won't be here much longer. I'll be released soon. I'll be back up and running soon."

"And then? You're probably looking at 8 weeks in a cast and half a year of physical therapy." Bilkins shook his almost bald head.

Suddenly Brian remembered the keys to the Porsche, which Dom had brought him.

He reached under his mattress and pulled them out. "Don't make a decision until you run a scan on Dominques' Porsche! Dom parked it in the underground hospital parking lot."

Bilkins turned around again, his eyes widened and a small grin played upon his lips as he grabbed the keys. "Let's see. You take care and get better soon and I'll be in touch, Mr. Spilner."

Brian nodded unsure whether that meant he was still undercover but didn't dare ask.

_At the Toretto residence._

Everybody was sitting together at the breakfast table and Dom looked through his bank statements, which had come by mail in a big bulk.

"Mia, why didn't you go and get our statements a little earlier. These are for the past 3 months and …" He stared at the balance and stood up.

Mia stopped chewing and watched him. "And what?"

"We've f…ing overdrawn our damn account!" He cursed and kept staring at the papers.

His sister got up and took a look at the statement in his hand. "That's not possible! How is that possible?" She frowned.

Dom carefully looked at the numbers. "Cause we spend much more than we earn!" He said coldly and sat down.

Letty now joined them at the table and saw their stares. "What's wrong, guys?"

"Our bank account." Dom showed her the balance.

"So?" She shrugged. "We just have to spend a little less and earn a bit more!"

Dom gave her a wild stare. "And that's so easy? Do you have any idea of the costs of our house, our shop, the cars….damn, Letty. It's all so easy, isn't it?" He said a very low, angry, dangerous sounding voice before he got up and stomped out the door. "I'll be at the garage making 'a little bit more money'."

Behind him two women were left at the table looking pretty dumbstruck.

Mia mumbled. "Ah crap." She grabbed the statements to see whether she could find an error.

"Don't worry about it. It's just money." Letty took a bite of a bagel and drank Dom's left over coffee.

Mia didn't even answer her. She was worried, definitely worried. A lack of money had always been a path to illegal ways of making it for Dom.


End file.
